Apparatus for tentering



Dec. 11, 1951 I DODGE 2,577,880

APPARATUS FOR TENTERING Filed Aug. 4, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet 1 i. a... 7/ Z! i 55 6! 0 1 I '5 Z 1 66 68 72 I 1|? INVENTOR v Ewdericl: Dad 6 ORNEYS Dec. 11, 195] DODGE I 2,577,880

APPARATUS FOR TENTERING Filed Aug. 4, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR I d lye; why ,Do ('9 F. G. DODGE APPARATUS F OR TENTERING Dec. 11, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug; 4, 1948 .8 Na 3 mm INVENTOR .DOdZe RNEYS 0 Nu m 1w m A 6w Rb mm \m mm :1, :IIHHHHH H||||I Q w o a m 8 mw mm Patented Dec. 11, 1951 APPARATUS FOR TENTERING Frederick G. Dodge, Cumberland, Md., assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application August 4, 1948, Serial No. 42,434

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a process and apparatus for treating fabrics, and relates more particularly to a novel process and apparatus for tentering a fabric so as to control the shrinkage thereof.

In the conventional methods of knitting and weaving'fabrics the individual yarns are subjected to tension; consequently the fabric as it comes from the knitting or weaving machine is in a condition of stress. As a result of this stress the fabric will tend to shrink under a treatment such as wetting, which permits or facilitates movement and contraction of the yarns. Some shrinkage of the fabric occurs during the scouring, dyeing and other wet finishing treatments to which the fabric may be subjected during processing, but a considerable portion of this shrinkage is offset and the fabric is distorted by the mechanical strains of these and other finishing treatments. To eliminate the distortion of the fabric, it has been the practice in the past to feed the edges of the fabric, while still wet from the finishing treatments, onto a pair of tenter chains to hold the fabric at the desired width until it has dried. Although tentering as carried out in the past will remedy any distortion present in the fabric, it will not eliminate the stresses in the yarns. Therefore, the tentered fabric will still have a tendency to shrink when it is again wet, for example, during laundering or dry cleaning. Since such shrinkage may amount to as much as five or even ten percent in the case of certain fabrics, it is obviously highly objectionable when the fabric is employed for a purpose where dimensional stability is desirable.

It is an important object of this invention to provide a process and apparatus for tentering a fabric which willovercome the above and other disadvantages.

A further object of this inventionis to provide a process and apparatus for tentering a fabric which will control the tendency of the tentered fabric to shrink.

Another object of this invention is to provide a process and apparatus for tentering a fabric in which the wet fabric! is fed to the tenter chains at a linear speed adjustable with respect to the speed of the tenter chains.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a, process for treating a fabric in which a wet fabric having a degree of longitudinal slack therein, is permitted to dry while the edges of the fabric are supported to maintain the desired width. Y

Other objects of this invention, together with 2 certain details of construction and arrangements of parts, will be apparent from the following detailed description and claims.

I have now discovered that the tendency of a fabric to shrink may be controlled by permitting the fabric to shrink during the tentering operation. To obtain such shrinkage the wet fabric is fed to the tenter chains at a linear speed greater than the speed of the chains, whereby a degree of slack is introduced into the fabric. This slack permits the individual yarns to contract during drying, producing a fabric which has a relatively small tendency toward further shrinkage. In this manner, the tentering operation which has hitherto served primarily to eliminate distortion of the fabric, also serves to control th shrinkage characteristics thereof.

One preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of the tentering apparatus,

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the portion of the tentering apparatus shown in Fig. 1 with the fabric omitted in the interest of clarity,

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the tentering apparatus shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a detail view, on an enlarged scale, of the feed and contact rollers, taken on line 4-4 in Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 5 is a detail view, in cross-section and on an enlarged scale, of the driving mechanism for the feed roller, taken on line 55 in Fig. 2-in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 6 is a detail view, partly in section and on an enlarged scale, of the power take-off from the tenter chain, taken on line 6-6 in Fig. 2 in the direction of the arrows,

Fig, 7 is a detail view, in cross-section and on an enlarged scale, of the tenter chain, and

Fig. 8 is a detail view, in cross-section and on an enlarged scale, of the telescopic shaft for transmitting power to the feed roller, taken on line 8-8 in Fig. 5 in the direction of the arrows.

Like reference numerals indicate like parts throughout the several views of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description of this invention the reference numeral ll indicates a wet fabric which is fed to tenter chains indicated generally by reference numeral l2 by means of a feed roller l3 and a con tact roller H. The edges of the wet fabric are forced onto a double row of pins l6, carried by said tenter chains [2, by means of freely rotating wire brushes II which are journalled in brackets ll supported on frame members II. The tenter chains, which are constructed as endless link chains in a manner well understood in the art, are trained around pulleys II and are driven by any suitable means (not shown) to carry the fabric from the vicinity of the feed roller II to a conventional drying means. The feed roller II is supported at each end by stub shafts 22 which are iournalled in bearings 28; longitudinal motion of the shafts in the bearings being prevented by collars 24 which are fastened to the shafts by means of set screws 26. Plates 21 and as support bearings 23 and are in turn carried by angle-irons I. fixed by bolts 30 to base ll.

The feed roller [3 is driven from one of the tenter chains II, at a linear speed adjustable with respect thereto, through a driving mechanism indicated generally by reference numeral 32. Power for the driving mechanism is obtained from tenter chain 12 by means of a cog wheel I! having teeth 34 which mesh with apertures 36 in the tenter belt. As the tenter chain moves it will cause the cog wheel to rotate thereby driving a vertical shaft 11 to which the cog wheel is fastened by means of a key II and a collar 39 both held in position by a single set screw 4|. The shaft 31 is journalled in a bearing 42 which rests on a collar 43 carried by a plate 44, which plate is in turn fastened to the frame members It. The rotation of the shaft 31 drives a bevel gear 4, which is fastened to the upper end of said shaft by means of a key 41 held in position by a set screw 48.

Meshing with and driven by said bevel gear 46 is a second bevel gear I! which operates a bevel gear through a conventional, manually adjustable, variable speed transmission indicated generally by reference numeral 52; said transmission being mounted on straps 53 and 54 carried by the frame members i9. Bevel gear 5| meshes with and drives a bevel gear I fastened to one end of a shaft 51 by a Pin 6|. Shaft 51 is rotatably mounted in a bearing I9 which is in turn carried by a bracket 6| fastened to the strap 54. The shaft 51 has,

a universal joint 62 fastened to the free end thereof by means of a pin 83. which universal Joint is also fastened to and drives a telescopic shaft indicated generally by reference numeral 64. The telescopic shaft comprises a rod 0' having a longitudinal bore 01 in its free end and a rod 68 slidably fastened in said bore by means of keys is seated in keyways II. A second universal joint 12 is mounted on the free end of the rod 68 and is fastened to one end of a shaft II by means of a pin 14. This second universal joint transmits the motion of the telescopic shaft to a bevel gear I6 which is fastened to the other end of the shaft II by means of a pin 11. The shaft 13 is rotatably mounted in a bearing ll which bearing is carried by a plate is integral with and extending at right angles to the plate 21. The bevel gear ll meshes with and drives a bevel gear I fastened to the stub shaft 22 of the feed roller l8, by means of a key a: held in place by a set screw 0. thereby driving said feed roller.

The contact roller H which rests on and is driven through frictional contact with the fabric II is supported at each end by stub shafts I which are iournalled for free rotation in bearings I. The latter bearings are mounted on brackets 81, which brackets are fastened to each other at their upper ends by means of a channel iron It. The assembly carrying the contact roller is mounted to rotate as a unit with shafts ll extending through the lower ends of said brackets II. The shafts I! are carried inbearingsllandareheldinsaidbearings by means of collars l2 fastened to the shafts by set screws .8, and spacers l4 fastened to the shafts by pins I, which spacers are WM to the brackets II. In order to permit the fabric to be more readily threaded through the machine. the lower ends of the brackets 81 are cut away. as at 91, to permit the brackets to be rotated past the vertical, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 of the drawings, before striking stops II which are mounted in collars I. on the angle-irons 20. In this position the weight of the contact roller ll will hold the brackets against the stops ll providing a space between the feed and contact rollers for easy threadins.

In operation, a wet fabric II is fed between the cooperating feed roller II and contact roller M to the moving tenter chains it upon which it is dried. The linear speed at which the fabric is fed to the tenter chains is adjusted at any desired value by suitably controlling the speed of the feed roller; this being readily accomplished by means of the variable speed transmission 52 through which the feed roller is driven. By feeding the wet fabric at a linear speed greater than the speed of the tenter chains there will be longitudinal slack in the wet fabric on the tenter chains and the individual yarns in the fabric will have an opportunity to shrink as the fabric dries. The tentered fabric will therefore have less tendency to shrink when it is again wet, than it would have had if the yarns had not been permitted to shrink in this manner.

It may also be desirable in some cases to feed the wet fabric to the tenter chains at a linear speed lower than the speed of the tenter chains. This will stretch the fabric and produce a greater total yardage, although the yarns in the fabric will be under a considerable stress and the fabric will have a greater tendency toward shrinkage. For some purposes this tendency toward shrinkage may not be a disadvantage, in which the case the greater total yardage will result in a less expensive fabric.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of iilustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having described my invention, what I desire plurality of driven tenter chains. and means.

including a roller operatively connected to at least one of said tenter chains, for feeding said fabric to said tenter chains at a linear speed less than the speed at which said tenter chains are driven.

2. In an apparatus for treating a fabric. a plurality of driven pin tenter chains, cooperating feed and contact rollers extending across the full width of said fabric for feeding said fabric to said pin tenter chains, and means operatively connected to at least one of said tenter chains for driving said feed roller, whereby the linear speed at which said fabric is fed to said pin tenter chains may be varied with respect to the speed of said pin tenter chains.

3. In an apparatus for treating a fabric, a

76 plurality of driven pin tenter chains. cooperating feed and contact rollers extending across the full width of said fabric for feeding said fabric to said pin tenter chains, and means driven by at least one of said pin tenter chains and including a variable speed transmission for driving said feed roller, whereby the linear speed at which said fabric is fed to said pin tenter chainsmaybevariedwithrespecttothespeed of said pin tenter chains.

4. In an apparatus for treating a fabric, a plurality of driven pin tenter chains having a plurality of apertures therein cooperating feed and contact rollers extending across the full width of said fabric for feeding said fabric to said pin tenter chains, and means engaging said apertures and including a variable speed trans- 6 mission for driving said feed roller, whereby the linear speed at which said fabric is fed to said pin tenter chains may be varied with respect to the speed of said pin tenter chains.

FREDERICK G. DODGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,006,814 Payet July 2, 1935 2,310,245 Leamard et a1. Feb. 9, 1943 2,387,333 Kuzinski Oct. 23, 1945 2,482,270 Grundy Sept. 20, 1949 

